Conceptually, I love when was going on here. Having the father come back to feed on his children is such an interesting and unique metaphor. I love Stephen Graham Jones’s writing style too. I feel like this could have benefited from being a slightly longer novel because something about it just doesn’t feel quite complete. The ending and its twist felt very abrupt and I feel like with maybe just a little more build up it could’ve been something more.

Mapping the Interior is written in Stephen Graham Jones’ conversational style from the POV of a boy who sees the figure of his long-dead father in his house one night. The novels packs a lot into its short length: generational cycles, cultural dissonance, coming of age worldview shifts, a haunting, police brutality, bullying, the intricacies of memory, and more. The fact that SGJ can accomplish such a feat in roughly 100 pages is why he’s one of the current Greats of horror, and one of my personal favorite authors.

This novella was originally published in 2017, but is coming out on April 29th with new cover art so I was lucky enough to get a NetGalley eARC and work on my goal to read the SGJ backlog at the same time. My review is entirely my own opinion.

I loved the family dynamics presented here - we have a single mother who has left the reservation and her entire community behind to raise her two children away from the past. 12-year old Junior has a lot of questions about that past, especially when his deceased father starts turning up in full regalia at night. Is he there to help his disabled little brother get better? Is he there at all? Does he have a completely different agenda? Junior, as man of the house, decides to find out, by intricately mapping the house and his mind.

I love coming-of-age stories and the gift of character development inherent to good ones. Junior isn’t a completely reliable narrator due to his age and understanding, his sleepwalking, his grief, and the fallibility of memory, which gets so interwoven with hopes and fears. Memory is basically fiction disguised as fact.

I thought it was really interesting that Junior was the most likely to see his father in the liminal space between sleeping and waking, and could mimic the conditions by making his feet numb. As Junior experiences more of these visitations, he has to confront everything he believes. The ending left me a bit shocked and uncomfortable, but that’s what horror is often about - exploring the dark in a safe setting.

4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

An atmospheric read that I believe will really resonate with readers. A story about grief and what we as individuals will do to cope with the loss of a loved one. This might be a tough read for someone who has felt that grief. I personally was brought to tears multiplie times. This novella really packs a punch!

terrifying and unique ! a fast read and oh so worth it, If you are a fan , you have to dive in to this unsettling short story.

After losing his father at a young age, twelve-year-old Junior feels responsible as the “man of the house” to protect his younger brother Dino.

That pressure only intensifies when Junior sees visions of his deceased father creeping through the home dressed as a traditional Indian fancydancer.

Mapping the Interior is a ghost story about generational trauma and the grey areas that exist on the path to seek justice.

While I found the premise to be intriguing, the storytelling felt clunky. Conclusions Junior comes to about the nature of the supernatural element in the story felt a bit forced and sporadic, making it difficult to follow at times.

Thank you to Tor Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I'd like to start by saying thank you to netgalley and Tor publishing group for the ARC.

This was an interesting read, it felt very dream-like and choppy in the sense of being from a child's perspective. This book was more emotional and sad rather than horror to me. It seemed as though the 'horror' and 'creepy' aspects of this book weren't investigated more, which generally did not make the weird happenings stand out to me. I had a hard time getting invested or connected into the story since a lot of it just did not seem to flow or make much sense. This book was less about him living in a 'haunted' house and more about the trauma, abuse, and troubles of living close to or in poverty. This book might be for some people but for me it fell flat, I'm glad it was a novella because I'm not sure if I would have kept going if it was a full length novel.

This is one of those books that sounds absolutely amazing and you know everyone will love it but it just didn’t hit for you. There’s just something about SGJ writing that I just don’t mesh with.

This short novel is very haunting, eerie and dark. It made me feel sad and heartbroken throughout the book. I will have to say, this short story is very unique. I have never read a book quite like it.

This is about a boy that walks through his house during the nighttime and comes across this figure. Furthermore, this figure reminds him of his Dad; who is no longer alive. The story gets more in depth of the Family’s lifestyle, traditions, and what really happened to his Dad. It’s very thought provoking and mysterious.

This short novel has a lot of trigger warnings. Some of them include grief, bullying, and abuse. Be sure to read the full content warnings before reading this short story. I give this novel a 3 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review!

This is a very short novella and was able to finish this in one sitting. I did have a couple tense moments, and enjoyed the idea behind it. I never read books that explore Native American culture, The story is about grief, and loss, and things we will do to cope with losing the people we love. I did enjoy this short novella although it wasn't my favorite but I will be continuing on reading from this author.


Thank you NetGalley for the copy!

Twelve-year-old Junior just saw his dead father walk from the living room to the utility room. He doesn’t know what to make of that. What he does know is he needs to figure out how to help him return to the living world…because he’s his dad, right?

An absolutely spine-tingling novella from the inimitable Stephen Graham Jones, Mapping the Interior will leave you creeped out, confused, and just a little angry – exactly how I like my horror novels!

I read this ~110 page novella in one sitting and of course it was after midnight when I finished and OF COURSE I was alone…in the dark…with Stephen’s thoughts. You really don’t want to do that. Be alone with Stephen’s thoughts.

This novella is also a poignant glimpse into the everyday lives of our Indigenous neighbors; their hardships, their struggles, but also their joy. Stephen has taught me more about Indigenous culture than anything I could learn from a textbook (obviously) or the History channel.

Stephen blends an intimate portrait of a family having survived trauma, with supernatural terror and creeping dread. I highly recommend you pre-order it! Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the early review copy.

One thing I will forever love about Stephen Graham Jones' writing is that so much is open to interpretation. And while Mapping the Interior feels like it's about loss at its very core, the reader gets to decide what that means. Is it a ghost story in the supernatural sense? Or is it more about how we're all haunted by grief, our past, and the things we never wanted to become?

Yes, this is horror, but it's not horror in the sense that you may be expecting. This is a literary, emotionally charged horror of the human condition as processed by a 12-year-old boy, trying to be the man of the house while processing trauma. And it’s beautiful.

Would I recommend this one? Mostly, yes. While I don't think it would work for readers who like their horror to be straightforward, it definitely has a place for those who prefer to analyze.

For me, though, Jones just doesn't miss.

((While the viewpoints shared are my own, I want to thank NetGalley, Tor Publishing Group, and Stephen Graham Jones for this complimentary copy.))

Horror novella told from the pov of a 12 y/o native American boy, who thinks he sees his dead father walking through his house at night.

I'm looking forward to reading more by this author! The writing is so gripping and emotional.

"When you come back from the dead, you’re a spirit, you’re nothing, just some leftover intention, some unassociated memory."

12 year old Junior starts to try and sleepwalk on purpose after seeing his dead father. He starts to assume that his father has come back to help the family, especially his little brother Dino who has seizures. Once Junior realizes that might not be the case he does everything to protect his family and figures out maybe his father is better off dead.

I feel like this is a book that I will think about often and at random times. It's so captivating and intense. The subject is very diverse focusing on Natives and their culture how stories impact the way people deal with loosing loved ones. It has spiritual/paranormal undertones without being full blown horror. A very powerful piece of work and I can't wait to read more from SGJ.

Stephen Graham Jones just keeps hitting it out of the park like it's his hobby. Devastating exploration of grief and trauma and how it all coalesces into horror. Phenomenal read!!

This book is following a boy processing his grief after his father dies and how this grief manifests in unpredictable ways. There's a lot of supernatural elements to this book I really appreciated and felt they were used effectively to convey the grieving process. I'm a big fan of this authors writing style and grief horror is also one of my favorite sub genres so this one was definitely a win for me.

📐🏠📏Mapping The Interior📏🏠📐

This was heartbreaking horror...

"I was twelve the first time I saw my dead father cross from the kitchen doorway to the hall that led back to the utility room."

*CHILLS*

This is a short yet powerful novella by SGJ that I devour in one sitting. It delivered so much feeling, both emotionally damaging as well as the horrific kind all in under 120 pages.

We follow a single Mom of two, her sons Junior, 12 years old (this was especially gut-wrenching since that's my own child nickname) and Dino, about 8 years old, whom has been suffering from seizures as well as some developmental delays. They have moved out of the rez, and it seems that the neighborhood they're on is not as nice or safe as it seems to be, between a nightmare of a neighbor and being haunted/hunted by their Dead Father, Junior tries his best at being a good brother and son.

This book was so tense, creepy, and heartbreaking. The way they longed yet fear the Father apparition, the way that it was carefully portrayed to showcase the feelings of Junior, and it was done all in a novella. I can see SGJ is a household name and won so many awards. He has won me over again. Loved Night of the Mannequins novella, and now I look forward to reading all of his available work.

I would love to thank NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this e-book ARC.

I love SGJ! He brings such a unique perspective to horror. This story is short, but it has depth. It has good creepy vibes. It flips the typical creepy kid story and brings a wonderful cultural element.

As always, Stephen Graham Jones is brilliant with words. Even a short story like this one is written so well, I wouldn’t have minded it being a full story. The perspective is from a 12 year old boy, which makes the writing even more interesting and imaginative. You aren’t sure whether what’s going on is real, paranormal, or the imagination of a child, and maybe that’s part of the reason why it’s so scary too. Loved this!

Junior is 12 years old when he wakes up from sleepwalking to see his dead father walking across his house. His father died when he was 4 but somehow he recognizes him immediately. He assumes his father is back to help him and his family but maybe the dead are better off dead at the end of the day.

This book was so creepy and captivating! Overall a really fast read that I had a hard time putting down, and I know I’ll be thinking about it for the next week at least.

I did struggle a bit with the meanness of this book, and wouldn’t recommend it to people who don’t like reading about animal cruelty (or cruelty in general) because there’s a lot of vague references or implied ickiness.

This is a creepy and effective short story about a father that comes back years after drowning. His son tries to protect his brother and mom from this, all within the backdrop of Native culture. Thanks so much to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.